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Fall Into Tech #9: Brian Gomez - Marine to Meta Recruiter
17 Plays1 month ago
Marine veteran Brian Gomez shares his journey from U.S. Marine to tech recruiting at Meta in this insightful episode. Discover:
- Brian's career evolution from the Marine Corps to Meta's recruiting team
- Insights into the tech recruiting process, including strategies for sourcing candidates and advocating for diverse talent
- How military skills like adaptability, leadership, and problem-solving translate to success in tech recruiting
- The day-to-day realities of working as a tech recruiter, including building relationships with hiring managers and candidates
- Advice for veterans transitioning to tech careers, emphasizing the importance of networking, tailoring resumes, and leveraging military experience
Whether you're a transitioning service member, aspiring tech professional, or curious about recruiting in big tech, this episode offers valuable insights into navigating the hiring process and building a successful post-military career in the tech industry.
GUEST INFO:
EPISODE LINKS:
- Meta Careers
- Meta Llama AI
- Marine Innovation Unit
- Marine for Life
- LinkedIn Recruiter
- SeekOut Recruiting Tool
- Bellator Recruiting Academy
PODCAST INFO:
- Podcast website: https://www.fallintotech.com/
- Youtube
- Apple Podcast
- Spotify
- Zencastr
SOCIAL MEDIA:
HOST INFO:
Transcript
Introduction & Handling Tough Situations
00:00:05
Michael Rodriguez
Hey, welcome to the Fall into Tech podcast hosted by Jamil Mattin and myself, Michael Rodriguez to Marines Turn Techies. On this podcast, as you know, we chat with fellow vets about their journey from military to technology, as well as other tech professionals to help you with your tech career.
00:00:23
fall_in
Yeah, that's right. ah Tune in weekly for guest interviews where we discuss specific tech roles, career paths, and tips for succeeding in tech.
Meet Brian, the Sorcerer
00:00:33
fall_in
And um for this episode, we got Brian Gomez. Thanks for joining us, man.
00:00:37
fall_in
Really appreciate having you on.
00:00:37
Brian Gomez
Yeah, absolutely.
00:00:38
Brian Gomez
Absolutely. Thanks for the invite.
00:00:39
fall_in
um
00:00:40
Brian Gomez
I'm excited.
00:00:41
fall_in
Yeah, my pleasure. Brian's a former Marine, happened to serve around the same time. um You know, I think we both got in around 2007. I feel like It's like the golden years in the Marine Corps. But, um you know, Brian these days is a tech recruiter for Meta, which is awesome. I think we first got connected to when i I thought, you know, when Quest 3 came out, I was like, oh, it'd be really cool to have Meta involved in our, um because we do Metaverse events as well. So I think that's when I first got kind of whiff of you. It's like really cool to see another Marine working um in in big tech.
00:01:18
fall_in
um So yeah, ah Brian, why don't you go to break the ice by giving us a ah fun fact about yourself?
00:01:25
Brian Gomez
Oh, yeah, man. um Again, thanks thanks for for inviting me. Super excited. i First and foremost, man, I could definitely run on some tangents. So I'll definitely try to tell myself to like stop and slow down because I will and will talk 1,000 miles a minute. I just get really excited, right? But fun fact, you know oddly enough, this is probably one of the hardest questions I've ever been asked, because I'm like, what what is really fun about me, right?
00:01:55
Brian Gomez
And just kind of thinking about it, man, I, dude, I'm um' what, I'm midway through my life, right? And I still really enjoy ah emo music. Like Blink-182, you know, like Fall Out Boy, like Story of the Year.
00:02:11
fall_in
Damn, who hurt you, dog?
00:02:13
Michael Rodriguez
a little, a little Evanescence, a little Evanescence in there.
00:02:16
fall_in
The Marine Corps hurt you.
00:02:16
Brian Gomez
Yeah, dude, I still enjoy it. you know like I listen more EDM now, because I like the the beats and the rhythm. But dude, I will go to a
AI in Recruiting: Help or Hindrance?
00:02:26
Brian Gomez
concert you know randomly. I went to the Dangerous Summer. It's a small like band that I used to listen to when I was ah in Iraq and Afghanistan, actually. I burned that tea out, dude. But um yeah, i still love I still love doing those things. you know I guess it kind of reminds me of my childhood. Maybe, but you're right. Like who hurt me, man?
00:02:47
Brian Gomez
The the rain core, maybe. i don't I don't know. Yeah.
00:02:50
Michael Rodriguez
Dude, that's funny.
00:02:50
Brian Gomez
that's
00:02:53
Michael Rodriguez
You gotta to get in your sad boy vibe sometimes.
00:02:55
Brian Gomez
Yeah.
Brian's Service Years: Lessons from the Marines
00:02:57
Michael Rodriguez
But ah Jamil mentioned you were a Marine, like us. So can you tell us a little bit about years you served, MOS, some cool things you did.
00:03:04
Brian Gomez
yeah
00:03:07
Michael Rodriguez
um I know you mentioned right there a little bit, ah Iraq, Afghanistan. Yeah, just kind of a synopsis of your military career, if you can.
00:03:10
Brian Gomez
yeah
00:03:13
Brian Gomez
Yeah, for sure, man. So I joined in 2007.
00:03:18
Brian Gomez
yeah i' I'm a reservist now, so I got a couple of years left, and I will be eligible for retirement. But I think I'm gonna just kind of write it out, really like it. I'm with the Marine Innovation Unit, ah so plug for the MIU, right? They're doing some really cool things. I believe we just hired our fourth ah cohort for the group. it's a it's It's mainly like a reservist that are in like a career fields where the Marine Corps can use us and use our skill set to modernize and better the Marine Corps. right Because we're going to see things that are broken, and we're going to come in and and fix those things. right So something something that i ah I'm really enjoying. right But I came in 2007. I originally joined as an 1142, a gen mech.
00:04:03
Brian Gomez
um I don't really know ah why I have no MOS credibility whatsoever, which is bonkers. ah The unit I joined was a reserve unit called Mortuary Affairs. It was personnel retrieval processing, but it's Mortuary Affairs. And I was with them for about eight years. Both my deployments ah was was working with them. And we pretty much, we just dealt with you know deceased Marines sometimes weird you know with some enemy combatants as well. And we just you know got them ready to to come back back home, right? To say you know goodbye to the loved ones. So it was a very interesting interesting ah job that I did, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I've met some really amazing leaders that I would say that helped mold my mind um with with the Marine Corps, how to be like a leader in the Marine Corps and also
00:05:00
Brian Gomez
how to kind of like lead on the outside because it was just wearing a ah dual hat. um So it was really cool, man. um After that, I ended up joining the Wounded Warrior Battalion. And I was a section leader. I was in Germany for three years. What what Marines in Germany, dude, that was awesome. Right? I loved it. I still talk. to those group of guys. um Our boss was a major, he's a colonel now, and we still like, you know, we are very, very well connected. um he's just he's He's just a gem, dude.
00:05:31
Brian Gomez
And like, we've gone snowboarding together, like his family's just amazing. We've seen each other. We even went for one of our army buddies that we worked with. He was a the SF LNO, and we saw him retire in North Carolina. We all went together, and
Leadership and Camaraderie in the Military and Tech
00:05:45
Brian Gomez
and it's just a really good time, right? So like, it's a lot of camaraderie there. so Again, I wouldn't change that for the world, but here I am.
00:05:47
fall_in
Nice.
00:05:51
Brian Gomez
After that, Marine for Life, ah great, great program. I could definitely dive into that. That kind of kickstart. I actually got invited to that because I was already ah ah volunteering for a lot of nonprofits, and a guy like reached out to me, a a major who was leaving. He ran the central region. He's like, hey, man. You want to come take up my spot like I work at DocuSign. I see you're a meta. You know, I think you'd be great here. And I was there for about a year and a half and then went over got on orders back to the what do you worry battalion. And then now I'm with MIU. But here we are fun. Oh, not fun fact. um
00:06:28
Brian Gomez
I, so one of my, my, I guess one of my favorite accomplishments, which I would never ever do again was go to the mace, right? ah The martial arts center of excellence, which I know they like completely, it's called something different now. But I actually really enjoyed McMap, not really for the fighting aspect, but the, the teaching aspect, right? I really enjoyed that. And when I had the opportunity to go get my red tab, I definitely jumped on it very hard, right? The body takes a beating, but you you learn a lot, right? you Like really learn a lot about yourself. I would say even the MAI course, you learn a lot about what you can get through. um And just ah again, i learned I learned a lot of things with like public speaking.
00:07:22
Brian Gomez
And that's where i really learned i love like being able to guide and mentor and like um you know to to inspire right aspire to inspire like i really love that and that's the for me like that was the but and the most beneficial I don't wanna say the thing that I got from the Marine Corps, because the Marine Corps gave me a lot, but something that I definitely truly still hold here, where I'm like, man, I'm so glad i'm so glad I took that opportunity. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Glad I was able to like get that tab and be in a group that's very different. but
00:07:59
Brian Gomez
That part, I think, worked hand in hand in getting where where I'm at now as a recruiter and and like just being you know being involved with like Q and&A and talent camps and then going to nonprofits and and those things. But anywho, that's my long my long story.
Operational Risk Management in Martial Arts
00:08:16
fall_in
It's One mind, any weapon.
00:08:16
Brian Gomez
Oh,
00:08:17
Michael Rodriguez
It's.
00:08:19
Brian Gomez
Oh, yeah, man.
00:08:19
Michael Rodriguez
It's it's still is called the mace and it is still make map, so it hasn't changed or anything.
00:08:19
Brian Gomez
Oh, yeah.
00:08:23
Brian Gomez
Oh, Joe. Joe.
00:08:25
Michael Rodriguez
um
00:08:25
fall_in
what What belt did you get out of this, Rod?
00:08:29
Michael Rodriguez
I was a green belt.
00:08:33
fall_in
Nice.
00:08:33
Brian Gomez
Yeah, man.
00:08:34
fall_in
Cool.
00:08:35
Michael Rodriguez
Yeah, which is is not ah not very high for people who don't know, I think it's what ah like a web belt warrior and then it's like tan belt, then it's green.
00:08:35
Brian Gomez
Hey dude, that's what you gotta get, right?
00:08:36
fall_in
Yeah, think about that one.
00:08:37
Brian Gomez
Great.
00:08:44
Brian Gomez
Yeah, you go tan, gray, green, brown, black, and then the black has different degrees, right?
00:08:45
fall_in
at
00:08:51
Brian Gomez
Because like the flag, you're like, what, first degree. And then um the the tan tab is the martial arts instructor, and the red tab is martial arts instructor trainer. So you can ah make instructors with the red tab. As the instructor, you can belt folks up to your belt level. um so Very, very, it does get a little tough, time consuming, right?
00:09:11
fall_in
the
00:09:12
Brian Gomez
And then like obviously ORM is very big, because if you hurt you know a Marine, like that dude, that gal is out of the fight. So it's one of those things of like, you got you definitely have to have your your commander like you know have your back, and you have to be a responsible instructor or instructor trainer, right? That's so key, and I agree with that, right? like You don't have to always go full force, full speed. like You don't have to do that to get your point across. right you can There's a lot of training involved in you. have I would agree you definitely have to be... I have a little bit of a level of maturity right because you have those folks under your charge and like you know their wellbeing is is off of you, man. And like sometimes as an IT,
00:09:54
Brian Gomez
um i would I would be the only instructor, so like I'm running them, and um I obviously have to be in the best shape, right? Better shape than them, so I can like be be in front of them, you know run back to them, you know see who's falling out, you know what's going on. But yeah, there's there's so much that comes after, but yeah, those are the the bell levels there.
00:10:15
Michael Rodriguez
gotcha yeah and I want to say you know thanks for you know serving in that unit. i know that ah I've never actually met someone from that unit, but I know that can be a hard role, a tough role, but it's a very important role kind of working with DC service members and things like that. so yeah Thank you for that. um
00:10:34
Brian Gomez
Yeah, for sure. Small, small, small. A lot of folks, a lot of Marines never knew that we existed, right? It was really, really interesting just meeting Marines are like, you do what? That exists here? You know, I'm like, yeah, bro. ah So yeah, again, we wouldn't change it for the world.
Transitioning from Military to Tech Roles
00:10:54
Michael Rodriguez
And um I guess before we move into talking about some tech stuff looking back or you're still in reserve unit, but what I guess what's your favorite part or what has been your favorite part of the military and what has been your least favorite part?
00:11:08
Brian Gomez
Oh man, easy day, favorite part, camaraderie. right um you know yeah we We all know that the Marine Corps is challenging, right but if you if you if you don't have the right folks around you, like I don't think you'll progress or you'll be at your utmost potential. right and so like And I say that because like when you're around folks that want to inspire and like ah guide you and like help you build up to be to be the best self like that's something and something that's something that sometimes is taken for granted or or even overlooked but the camaraderie right because at certain points like we all know this the the marine corps is
00:11:50
Brian Gomez
is a beast right sometimes she's a black widow right she'll eat her young and and it's just like when you feel like at that moment of like dude i'm i'm going to break but if you have those folks around you that you know make you laugh or like you know just come in and like be able to talk to you and say man what's going on that for me is just like Hands down one of the best things in the military in general but like the Marine Corps is like we're so much so much tight-knit and even after After active duty after the reserves after wherever wherever you're going even to this day when I'm like flying You know for work or for vacation or whatever I'll see another Marine and I'll just top it up with him and it's like it's like we serve together, right? it's like immediately like like us right like we just start chit-chatting and we just we know like
00:12:37
Brian Gomez
those stressors in the background like what we went through it's like automatically we just become like homies right boys so that for me like hands down probably one of the best things uh one of the worst things oh from the list no one of the worst things ah so i wouldn't say it's the worst thing i think it's a mix i think it's it's bad but it's good right the bad thing is having bad leaders, right? That you have to fall under, right? That's one of the worst things. That's very frustrating. And like when you try to put your voice out there, when you're trying to be heard, when you're trying to sometimes do the right thing, like you will get pushed back because maybe your rank is not high enough. Maybe people view you as like, hey, you're just a corporal. Like, you know what you're talking about. I disagree, right? There's amazing,
00:13:32
Brian Gomez
Lance corporals pfc's corporal sergeants you know all the way above all the way below that you know can innovate you know that can bring a solution to a problem that not everybody sees and it's just different perspectives and this is something that i've always carried with me that translates into you know what i've been doing with tech but it's It's bad, but it's also good and I say it's good because now you know what you don't want right every leader has something good to take has some value to like really pull out of and it has some has some things that you don't want right so you always remember like dang I want to emulate and I want to pull that that type of
00:14:07
Brian Gomez
that positive skill set that individual has, but that other crap I don't want. But I want to remember that I don't want to do that because my my the next generation, the folks that I'm going to be leading, I want to make sure I'm not making those same mistakes. So again, it's like a worse, best kind of kind of mix in my my opinion. Solid question.
00:14:32
fall_in
Very cool, man. um Kind of want to touch upon your civilian career here. You know um you talked about, ah you're obviously in tech now, but talk to us about yourre some of your civilian careers and your path to tech. you know For me, I you know i was an 0311, I did a series of career changes from one industry to another.
00:14:55
Brian Gomez
Yeah.
00:14:55
fall_in
But um yeah, curious to hear about your story.
00:14:57
Brian Gomez
Yeah, man, yeah, you're just finding your path, right? I think, I wanna say a lot of veterans go through this, right? um Whether you're retiring or, you know, doing your four years and up, right? um I went through it, right? Of like, oh crap, what am I what am i gonna do? you know like So I understand that piece. And i once I started volunteering more with other nonprofits for transitioning vets, I got to hear more you know more stories and be able to like get those data points of like, this is this is it, like this is what we need to really improve. But my story is very different. I wanna say i was very I'm very fortunate, very lucky and very thankful and very grateful.
00:15:38
Brian Gomez
Right? um But in 2017, I left Germany, right? Came back to the to the US. I was at Norfolk. cause I was getting ah my second surgery on my shoulder. So obviously, pump back, come to the States. And I was going to fall off orders and kind of go back to the populace. Right? And so that's when I started thinking like, Shit, man. What do you want to do? What do you really want to do, man? Like, I guess I'll go back to school. What do I want to study? I don't know. Like, you know, like now I have to be an adult. Oh, my God. Right. And.
00:16:11
Brian Gomez
I got on LinkedIn and one of my junior Marines from years ago right posted about a a a veterans nonprofit ah geared for talent acquisition called Bellator Recruiting Academy. right I reached out to him, I said, hey man, you know what's talent acquisition? Who are these guys? or Is this legit? Because I know there's a lot of you know fake shit out there. right and And he let me know, it was, hey bro, I got you. let me Let me set you up with the co-founder. Dude, like the next day I was having like a three, four hour conversation with Sharif Wabi. um beautiful Beautiful, beautiful, like human being man. His his um his story of why he is, hes he's like, why he does what he does for the veteran community. ah Dude, I was sold. I was like, what do you need? Right? Like, I'm here for you. um But,
00:17:07
Brian Gomez
On Friday, I wanna say this was like Tuesday, Wednesday, he asked me, hey, this Friday, would you drive up to DC, right? And I lived in Virginia Beach, so it was gonna be like, I wanna say like maybe three hours, right? And I had nothing to do, I'm like, yeah, why not? So I drove up there, met him, talked to him, had lunch chit-chatted with a few other folks, and he gave me some homework, right? he told me Hey man, ah look up Boolean strings, ah look up um you know ah sourcing, things that like sounded alien to me. But I put it on my phone, I connected to my car, and I drove all the way back to Virginia Beach listening, right? Kind of like making mental notes of like, what the hell does this really mean? When I get home, I'll Google it and I'll start diving in. About a month later,
00:17:52
Brian Gomez
um After we had like maybe two, you know, all-hands meetings of ah the folks that were involved in the in the nonprofit, Sharif called me and said, hey, we are partnering with Facebook for a program at the time called Sorcerer Development Program. Now, what it is, is it brings folks from a variety of backgrounds with little to no recruiting experience whatsoever, and builds you from the ground up to be the ideal sourcing recruiter, which is typically like front-end recruiting ah for Facebook, Facebook at the time, meta, right? I thought it was really cool. I'm like, oh man, that's that's amazing. I remember when he was telling me this, I'm like, oh, that's really cool. I hung up the phone. I was cooking chicken at the time. And I'm like, yeah, all right. Like, I don't really know what that means.
00:18:34
Brian Gomez
Pretty gnarly, but I'm not gonna worry about it, right?
00:18:35
fall_in
crazy
00:18:38
Brian Gomez
um Obviously we prepped for the phone interview and it was gonna be, so again, let me rewind. The program, you come on contract for a year, up to two years with the possibility of rolling over to full time. So after the first interview, we all flew to Menlo Park, which is the headquarters.
00:18:54
fall_in
That's crazy.
00:18:57
fall_in
totally separate from skill bridge.
00:19:00
Brian Gomez
Dude, yeah, ah I didn't even do skill bridge, man.
00:19:02
fall_in
Yeah.
00:19:03
Brian Gomez
I didn't even do any of that stuff.
00:19:04
fall_in
yeah
00:19:05
Brian Gomez
I don't think at the time like we were able to do it. I don't i don't remember the situation with that, but this was like just on my own. right Being curious and like just reaching out and just like getting that machine going. right We flew to Menlo Park, um got to see headquarters and it's adult Disneyland. So it was like jaw dropping like, wow, this is like, this is cool free food. Wow. Look at it's like, look at all these cool things. Like there's an arcade, you know, like oh these buildings are massive it's just massive, massive, ah massive, massive area. That's just so like,
00:19:41
Brian Gomez
people oriented, right? Where they like want to make sure the employees are happy because like it is a grind, right? But these are things that I learned later. My mindset was, this is really cool. I am nowhere near the caliber of what, you know, the people that work here. So I'm just gonna go into my in-person interview, like, whatever, you know, like, cool, I'm gonna answer the questions, you know, I'm gonna be myself, smile, I'm not gonna be nervous. A little nervous, but it was like most of my nerves got away because, again, like, the folks that were with me were, you know, they do their rock stars, right? And I'm like,
00:20:16
Brian Gomez
Hey, like, I don't have all the pedigrees that you guys have, so I don't know what I'm doing here, you know, in my cohort of of ah of ah vets that were we're going through the interview. Next day, ah as as, you know, Marine Corps fashion, I was the first one to go in, so tip of the spear, baby, first one to go do the interview, i I chatted with him and the Marine Corps definitely helped because he came
Entering Facebook's Sorcerer Development Program
00:20:43
Brian Gomez
up to me. He's like, Hey man, you're the Marine, right? He's like, yes sir. He's like, cool. Come on in. And he goes, Hey dude, I'm not going to talk to you and ask you about your work ethic. I, i you know, like my family was prime military. I know if you don't get things done,
00:20:55
Brian Gomez
It's your ass. I'm like, yes, sir. Oh, he's like, you didn't say your ass, but he's like, it's your it's your butt, right? Like, yes, sir. He's like, cool, let me tell you about the job. And we started chit chatting. And he asked me a couple of questions, yeah like kind of behavioral type questions to kind of see where my mindset was. um Great questions, right? And it was it was just kind of everything went full circle, right? um And I won't dive into into deeper into that. But after that, you know he gave me the thumbs up. And I left and I didn't really hear anything a month later, right and again, I wasn't nervous I was just a little nervous but not much because again you most transitioning vets and the the folks that are out there that are listening to this that are all that are trying to break into tech like you need to get that that mindset out of here because Because I was chosen and I don't I don't like to like
00:21:47
Brian Gomez
You know, I don't like to play like a high like this, but i to to give you like, to give you a better sense, I was the only one chosen in our cohort, right? These folks, everybody else that I had, minimum bachelors, masters, one doctorate. Some worked already in like a cybersecurity space. Some folks were doing some amazing stuff in the cleared space. And like, then you had me, right? You know what I mean? So I'm like, whoa, what's going on? Later, we were able to finagle two folks to come in. But I remember this man, because I remember talking to Sharif and I'm like,
00:22:23
Brian Gomez
What just happened? How did I make it through? And he just kind of talked to me. He's like, hey man, you you got it, right? Like you got something that they like. You know, you being yourself, right?
00:22:33
fall_in
Wow.
00:22:34
Brian Gomez
They liked it. You know, like to me, it just, you didn't force it, man. Like you just went in there and you spoke when I, cause he asked me how did, how did it go? How did I feel? I'm like, I just, I just spoke man. Just like just my way. um Fast forward, i you know I was on contract for a year with Recruiting for Recruiting. I loved that team. right I was there for about four and a half years on that team. um But I learned everything. I had some amazing ah in-team trainers. I had amazing manager that you know that really you know honed my skills in. And and and my team was great. like They understood that I came from the military. right And I did things different. And dude, one of the best things
00:23:16
Brian Gomez
um was one of the the main, the the you know, I think he was like, I think he was like, a you know, manager level two or or something, the first week that I was there. The first week, right? First two days, my antique trainer was like, hey man, you know, I asked him, hey, what do I need to learn? Hey, I got there super early. Marine Corps, fashion I got there super early. Nobody was there. But I'm like, oh, okay. But one thing, the first two days he's like, hey dude, don't worry about any type of work. I want you to go and introduce yourself to everybody on the top floor and everybody on the bottom floor and then go introduce yourself to the other building. You know, we're all recruiters. We're all here. Like at some point you will be interacting with these folks.
00:23:57
Brian Gomez
cross-functional collaboration, very, very important for us and very, very big. So I said, okay. And I just, you know, leading the charge, full confidence. Hey, hey how are you doing? I'm Brian. Nice to meet you. Oh, yeah. We're from, you know, source development and like, Oh, cool. You guys are, you know, the sorcerer SCP guys, you know, like very friendly. Um, there were some that I'm like, Oh man, you know, like they were intimidating. Like they were like, who are you guys? you know, what are you doing here? I'm like, oh man, I'm a Marine. And I'm like, what is going, you know, that, you know, that professional like, oh dude, I'm, I'm out of my element, right? Like I'm not, I'm not ah a master in this area. So I'm going to be a sponge, but that same week, myself and the other guy, We sat in in the conference room, right? We have a conference room, big table. We sat on the side to the wall, me and him.
00:24:44
Brian Gomez
and asked like, hey, this is what we're doing, today any thoughts, any suggestions? And I remember him pausing and and asking And I was like, uh, well, I don't really know if we have anything inside. He's like, hey, man, you guys are here. You guys are part of the team. Like, what do you see that we don't see? And we provided some some stuff that we saw, again, not really having that much knowledge, but things that I learned in the military where I'm like, well, this wouldn't make sense, right? Like, how about we do this or like this timeline, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They implemented some of that stuff. And right then and there, that's when I fell in love with Facebook. And that's when I fell in love with tech, because
00:25:19
Brian Gomez
the open door policy that we always hear about. And like, that actually like, you know, your opinion is is is valid. Like your thought process is is is is wanted. Like that was my first interaction. And dude, I, again, I became like, I just loved it. I was like, holy crap. You know, like, I love being here. I rolled over to full time about like a week shy of my year mark. And I've been here ever since, man. And like now I'm a recruiter on, I moved over from R4R, went over to Pathway programs.
Perseverance and Rejection in Tech Careers
00:25:50
Brian Gomez
ah you know From there, there's a lot of changes, obviously the tech you know the tech layoff area. um I ended up moving over to PhD suite. So I recruit for PhD new grads in machine learning and systems and infrastructure.
00:26:03
Brian Gomez
Um, yeah, I think I think that's my I do I went on a whole story but uh, you know providing that you know, but
00:26:09
fall_in
That's badass.
00:26:12
Brian Gomez
Here I am. And again, I think my biggest takeaway there is like, dude, like, don't ever sell yourself short, right? Like, definitely go in there. Don't be nervous. Go in there because at the end of the day, you know, 50 no's, one yes, that is the yes. That's the door that's gonna open and there's a reason why, right? Like, you don't wanna be in an area that doesn't want you or that's not gonna value you. And like, sometimes, you know, you'll get those no's where you're like, oh, okay, cool. Because you certain you see certain things where you're like, I don't know, I really like that process. But anyways, I'll go back to that.
00:26:44
Brian Gomez
Does that answer all the questions? I felt like there was something else there.
00:26:46
fall_in
Yeah, man. No, it's the same exact reasons why I think a lot of us join tech.
00:26:48
Brian Gomez
Yeah.
00:26:51
fall_in
It's just like like an adult playground. you know I checked out my buddy startup and it was the same way.
00:26:55
Brian Gomez
oh
00:26:57
fall_in
so um and Talk to us about you know the day in the life of a recruiter at Meta. what are you How are you sourcing? We'd love to learn more about like the tools that you're using. um
00:27:11
Brian Gomez
yeah
00:27:12
fall_in
um You know what applicant tracking system dive into like how you're doing the interviews um all that sort of stuff
00:27:18
Brian Gomez
Yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Day in the life. ah There's a lot of change here, right? So it's a fast paced environment. At one point, we' we're like in hyper growth mode, we're still growing, but I think we're a little bit more ah conservative now, right? um But it's fast paced, there's things changing all the time. So you definitely have to be able to pivot. um Again, military folks would do really well in this space because how many times do we have to pivot? right How many times does the plan of action like you know go high and to the right and we have to like come up with a different remedy? so That's and something that i'm I'm able to do really well here. Again, thank you, Marine Corps.
00:27:58
Brian Gomez
ah for for giving me that piece. um But each pipeline is different, right? We have recruiters in a bunch of different areas. Some some is focused on university recruiting, like myself, and even within university recruiting, we have the PhD pipeline, we have the intern pipeline, we have you know sweet three which is going to be like your bachelor's master's pipeline then you can kind of go deeper into like a research area or um you know so like a specific area within reality labs or the metaverse or you know like all these things so it can be very
00:28:32
Brian Gomez
um you know, very, just one lane, right? You obviously get to flex and go to different assignments, but you become kind of a master in your craft in that one pipeline,
Creative Sourcing and Advocacy in Recruiting
00:28:41
Brian Gomez
right? But then you can go on to like industry where it's like machine learning, gen-sui, infrastructure, right, infra, and you can go to data center recruiting, right? There's just so much, and you can go into the non-tech side, right? Admin recruiting, HRVP recruiting, Recruiters recruiting for other recruiters, right? So there's a lot of different ways. So each pipeline is going to have a different formula and a different way of doing things. um For my world, right, I started as as a sorcerer. So I have really, I love front-end recruiting. I love uncovering new talent. um Why? Because I don't think the same way as some of my colleagues, right? Some of these folks came from
00:29:29
Brian Gomez
Big tech right some they came from amazing places or you know They came from like some amazing schools and went to do some amazing things. I came straight from the military to this This is my first job outside of the military minus like, you know high school stuff But you know again very fortunate very grateful that my path, you know, like I just you know fell into it um You know fell into that stuff but
00:29:57
Brian Gomez
Oh, man. Oh, my God, I lost my shirt.
00:30:00
fall_in
No, I was going to say, like no this is exactly where I wanted to head towards, like the full funnel of what it's like from the recruiting side.
00:30:02
Brian Gomez
and
00:30:05
Brian Gomez
Okay.
00:30:07
fall_in
right You're sourcing in the front end side of things and then mid stage of the funnel.
00:30:09
Brian Gomez
Yeah. Front end piece.
00:30:13
fall_in
yeah
00:30:14
Brian Gomez
You have, we have...
00:30:14
fall_in
and so um
00:30:16
Brian Gomez
um front end and back end, we also cycle.
00:30:19
fall_in
so what yeah
00:30:21
Brian Gomez
So it's three different areas that you could fall in. um The reason why we have front end and back end is a meta knows that some people only want to do front end and some people just want to close right and like they're gonna they're gonna um They want you, they're gonna encourage you to go down the path that you wanna be, right? So if you wanna be a manager, they have a manager out. But if you wanna be an individual contributor, you can. And you'll still make the same amount of pay as somebody from the man management side. It's all about like, where you, as a person, as a worker, as like, you know, whatever, what really motivates you? What is your passion? That's a big thing here, right? And then full cycle, right? We have a couple teams that are a little smaller, so they'll run the the full, ah
00:31:05
Brian Gomez
the full, ah um you know, front end to back end. And then, you know, we'll flex, right? I'll flex from both sides and go from there. But strategies, being creative, man. Thinking outside the box. Like creativity is the name of the game. Right? um I rarely use job boards, right? I honestly, most of the time, i'm I'm looking for passive candidates. um i We used to have a team that goes to the applicant tracking of the applicant tracking system, so they look for for applic um applicants that applied, right? Candidates that applied.
00:31:37
Brian Gomez
um I sometimes go in there, but I get better bangs on my buck when I'm sourcing and looking for the right type of of talent that my stakeholder is looking for, right? um Intake meetings are very big.
00:31:49
fall_in
Wow.
00:31:53
Brian Gomez
It's encouraged like recruiters here, you're encouraged to have those intake meetings because Every stakeholder, every hiring manager is gonna be different, right? you know Your director might be like, hey, look, I really want this, this, and this. And then as I'm listening and understanding what what he or she's saying, but also you know a Marine Corps fashion saying, oh, okay, so what I'm hearing is this, is this, and this. Is that correct? That's what you're looking for? And they'll be like, you know what? Yeah, but I will like this as well. That's when I can really understand and kind of like with my questions kind of guide them to kind of give me more information of what they're really looking for. Because sometimes they have an idea, but then it's not really what they want, you know, in reality, right? So intake meetings, depending again, depending on the pipeline.
00:32:39
Brian Gomez
And then just going out and like really creating a search string right but being creative looking for using ah LinkedIn LinkedIn I use both LinkedIn like the main page and LinkedIn recruiter because you can find different hits right algorithms are all different um We have like seek out and tell oh, but I don't really dive too much into those. I become really, really good at at LinkedIn, LinkedIn recruiter to find, you know, who I'm looking for, like uncovering those gems. And again, using my perspective ah of, of being different, right? If we're all higher, if we're all looking for folks, you know, to be in San Francisco, I don't want to look in San Francisco. Everybody else is looking in San Francisco. I'm going to go look in Indiana or Alaska, you know, like, will those people relocate? I don't know. Maybe not.
00:33:22
Brian Gomez
there are a few there that will be like, you know what, yeah, I'm i'm open to relocating. um Oddly enough, my first ever hire at Meta, right, was a guy from Indiana, right? And again, I was asked, why did you look for Indiana? I was like, well, why not? Everybody's searching, you know, San Francisco, New York, LA, Austin, Atlanta, but no one was looking and in, you know, nowhere fucking Indiana, I went in there, found a dude, you know killed his interviews, got an offer like that and and and moved over. yeah mean like So there's a method, like something's working, right? And so I've just kept that kept that mindset, right? So again, being strategic, thinking outside the box, being creative. like
00:34:05
Brian Gomez
those type of things. The other piece, right, um besides that is advocating for your candidates, right? You have to do research, right? You have to really like pull that information from a candidate. There are recruiters out there that rather be just like email, right? Because there's so much going on and like at certain points, yes, that makes sense. But other times, I always like to get on the phone, even if it's for like 15, 20 minutes, to just intro myself and start building that communication, that camaraderie, right? Again, like, you know, introduce myself, you know, breaking the ice, kind of diving a little bit deeper, understanding who they are, gaining more knowledge, right? Because I can i can feel i can see red flags when I'm talking to them, right? If that makes sense. i can feel the red flags where I'm like, I don't think this is the right ah right experience for you, right? I don't think this is the right title for your job for you. I think we need to you know go pivot somewhere else, things like that. So that piece is very big. And and when you get to know them, you're gonna you're gonna have more stock in your candidate, right? Which it should be.
00:35:08
Brian Gomez
right, you're there to advocate for them. You're not there to push them for the job. At the end of the day, it's their career, right? It's their life. Like you're there to motivate them and say, hey, this if you want this, we'll go for it. If this is not the right opportunity, no harm, no foul, let's but just chat later. You're gonna build, great, great connection there. And that person is gonna like, they're gonna share your name out and they're gonna they're goingnna share your name out in a positive way. Because at the end of the day, I'm representing myself and I'm representing Meta, right? We are representing the the the company as like that gatekeeper, right? And we're representing ourselves. And people typically remember who you are. They're gonna be like, oh man, that person sucks, right? They're gonna remember. And your name, you know, the recruiting community is pretty small. So your name can get out there. Just little things to think about.
Diversity and Mentorship in Teams
00:35:53
Brian Gomez
But then it comes to like, can't review client review, right? I can't finish their their interview. I give them interview prep, whatever, or whatever. I'm there to advocate. I'm there to like, you know, push back on the hiring manager when they say no, I didn't really like, you know, their their coding, you know, so I'm not going to go in there. well hold on like you have mixed feedback there's code like this coding interview was great this one was you know so so why are you saying no is there something that you see something you don't like you know let's dive into it to get together um you know and then when you get them talking and when they start reading more into you know the feedback and the and the review and really like having the discussion with other ah stakeholders in there but under the other interviewers um most of the time they'll be like okay you know what like
00:36:42
Brian Gomez
Maybe I'm a little too harsh. Let's do a follow-up. Let's get a little bit more signal, right? Let's let's you know get that follow-up to really like so really get that gut feeling. And at least a follow-up is a win because now I can prep the candidate, net let them know what to exp expect, and they'll come in, they'll kill it. you know you know Most of the time, I go away, they'll kill it, and they'll get an offer. you know and They would have not gotten an offer if I just said, oh okay, cool, whatever. And just, you know, when I get ahead, like you have to go in there and advocate, but that takes it takes effort, right? And that takes time. um And when I say research, obviously like you're you're you know chatting with your candidate, but also the hiring manager, but also look at the the team makeup.
00:37:22
Brian Gomez
Does that director or that manager have, you know who's who's under him or her? you know do or Do those people, right? So then again, curiosity, do you go and find out, okay, well, this person came straight from Google, this person from Amazon, ah these two from Microsoft, and this one person from Uber. Man, but nobody's from agency, nobody's from like this school, nobody's from this other area, nobody's from the military. you can use that to your advantage and say, hey, Mr. and Mrs. Iron Manager, you know, like, um I see that you have this vote this person, this person, this person, they look pretty senior, you know, you have this person here. um I, you know, I would love to to present this person.
00:38:01
Brian Gomez
They're different. It's a different type of candidate, but they have a different perspective. They're going to be able to come in and see a process that's broken, right? Maybe you're, maybe these folks that came from a a great company, maybe they don't see what's broken. Maybe they're like, Oh yeah, that works. And you know, and like, let's keep it moving. but a pair of fresh eyes who's coming from a way different background comes in and says, oh man, you know, we can actually shorten this and and fix this. And as anybody looked at this, boom, like that is, that is such like a value add to your team, right? Not only are they going to be able to come and like, continue to progress that team and that that themselves, the team, the people, the company as a whole, but also you're gonna provide mentorship opportunities for your direct reports. And at the end of the day, that manager is there to, again, inspire these folks, help these folks grow into being a manager for another team or to be a stronger engineer or a program a project manager, a program manager, whatever it is.
00:39:00
Brian Gomez
bringing somebody to to help a home grow as well as provide an opportunity for mentorship. like you know you're're getting your're you're You're getting a lot more like more value out of like, hey, this is a positive thing that this person's bringing. let's Let's keep that going, right? like Bring this person in. Let's yeah let's like give him a shot, right? Let's give them a shot. you know I guarantee you, I guarantee, and I always tell them, I can't guarantee you, but I'm like, hey, i I promise you this person is gonna come in and they're they're gonna, A,
00:39:33
Brian Gomez
They're going to do their very best work because they're hungry and this is an opportunity that they would have. You know, they would have never believed that they would have been able to get right and that's something again. This is why I like pathway programs. This is why I love my unique background because I'm able to. I'm able to use my experiences to help A, influence my leaders, but also talk to candidates when they're like, why would I, like, why would I go to like Facebook meta? What? Why not? Let me talk to you. Like, why I don't think I have the, cal no, yes, you do.
00:40:04
Brian Gomez
And let me tell you why. And then again, like being able to use my story or my, my, my colleague stories of folks that came from different areas, right? And I've had some really great women veterans by, by doing that.
00:40:15
fall_in
Yeah.
00:40:18
Brian Gomez
So something to kind of think about. but That's pretty much it.
00:40:22
fall_in
Yeah, yeah. Sourcing I've done a little bit and so fun when you're doing passive ah sourcing because somebody's already working in a role and you're trying to figure out good copy and strategy to kind of pull them out of their current role. Let's say you're working for this company and you're like come over to here and it's a lot of strategy and um there's a thrill to it unless you
00:40:42
Brian Gomez
Yeah, a lot of information, right? A lot of information and getting the buy in from them.
00:40:45
fall_in
Yeah, exactly. A lot of people, it's like PsyOps.
00:40:49
Brian Gomez
This is why. you Yeah, it really is, man.
00:40:51
fall_in
Yeah.
00:40:53
Brian Gomez
You know, production, I guess.
00:40:53
fall_in
um
00:40:55
Brian Gomez
I don't know. who
00:40:55
fall_in
Talk to us about, yeah, talk to us about, um you know, well,
Advice for Veterans Entering Corporate Roles
00:41:03
fall_in
a couple things, you know, when I think about big tech in the last few years, I think about hiring freezes, you know, so are you guys going through a hiring freeze? And, One question I have before I pass it off to Michael is, um what sort of do you can you share anything um that will help a veteran kind of game the game when it comes to applying?
00:41:26
Brian Gomez
Oh yeah, for sure, for sure. ah No, we're not in hiring freeze. um We're definitely still hiring, right? Other areas of the business is hiing more hiring more rapidly than than other areas, right? Because like um our like talent acquisition space, not really, right? It's very, you know, we, at one point, our TA space was like, our Our total number of like recruiters and sorcerers and recruiting coordinators and managers, to we were like the size of Twitter at one point.
00:41:57
Brian Gomez
So think of like Twitter as a whole, that was like the recruiting community at Facebook meta at one point.
00:42:02
fall_in
That's so crazy.
00:42:03
Brian Gomez
insane, right? That's a lot of people, right? um Obviously, you know, tech layoffs, we had to like shed a lot of that stuff, right? Now we're, you know, being a little bit more ah intentional, more efficient, you know, like, you know, wearing a couple of different hats, things like that, which I i really enjoy, right? Did touching different areas of business. um So yeah, we we definitely are hiring. um I will say it. Oh, I don't want to say it's more selective. It is hard at times, right? It is challenging. um But You definitely, you definitely have to be on your A game, right? The resume has to look good. The LinkedIn has to look good. You know, like it has to speak to that job description and you have to be able to to speak to your experience, right? um We all think of like fit reps, right? We all think of our fit reps, man. We always sound like water walkers, right? Like that's great. You can do that, but
00:42:57
Brian Gomez
But right you want to sell yourself, but you don't want to oversell because you are going to peak the interest of a recruiter, a sorcerer, a manager. They're going to dive into that. And if you can't effectively speak about it, like now I know like okay you're not as experienced as I thought. Let me tailor like the question. Let me try to pull more information. And like it just doesn't work well. right So at the end of the day, just always be honest. you know like you know Definitely sell yourself, but like don't inflate it. um So that's that's that's a big one, we are hiring.
00:43:28
fall_in
Great advice, yeah.
00:43:30
Brian Gomez
How to game, game.
00:43:30
fall_in
Cool.
00:43:31
Michael Rodriguez
Yeah.
00:43:33
Brian Gomez
That's a good one, right?
00:43:35
fall_in
but
00:43:36
Brian Gomez
Just like I said, that resume at LinkedIn, networking, right? Network, network, network. um I've actually chatted with two transitioning vets earlier this week. um You know, went through the resume and and and looked at their LinkedIn and we kind of had a conversation. um Man, I could probably go into like coaching or something, huh? Anyways, I let them know like, hey, you got to ah tailor your resume. If you wanna go for like um a DevOps role, like your resume has to speak. DevOps man, like going to the, it takes work, right? So finding a job is a job.
00:44:14
Brian Gomez
go into yeah search the company that you want to go to like Oracle for rent for example go to their career website see what jobs are in the area or the field that you want to go to right um also look into like it what are the titles right because like a title of of a specific engineer at at Amazon could be different at meta and could be different at Microsoft like you I mean like titles are very you know weird little things there you know go and research to see if that's the right position that you're going after and go see like what ah what requirements they they want you to have. And then have that real ah real conversation with yourself of like, yeah, I've done that. No, I haven't done that. Yes, I have done that. And tailor your resume to speak to that.
00:44:56
Brian Gomez
use those keywords that a job description is using, right? So you're you're gaining some interest, right? Because when a sorcerer gets on you know LinkedIn or even writes a bullion search string on Google, um they're gonna put those keywords, right? And you don't wanna miss out. you could be You could be the best candidate for that position, right? yeah Let's say you were like, all you did in the military was ah was was being a PM, right? like i If you don't word it where it speaks corporate, A, everything needs to be corporate corporate speak. um If you don't word it that way, like you're gonna get overlooked and you're it's gonna pass.
00:45:37
Brian Gomez
I can't tell you how many times, like because I am a veteran, I am a military person right at work, I get a lot of folks that will send me resumes like, hey, do you mind talking to this person? They're a vet. Or hey, can you look in in at this resume? you know Can you decipher it? And it's like, it's straight military jargon. And I'm like, yeah, make an intro to me if you're talking to them. i let me Let me talk to them. Let me coach them real quick. Let me like um clean up their resume with them and I'll send it back to you and then you can run with it. No one's gonna know what an executive officer is, right? Like I'll know what it is, but my my recruiting partner they're not gonna know. They're like, what the hell is that? I'm gonna move forward. I need to find someone else, right? I'm on i' on a time limit, right? So that I would say is one of the best pieces of advice that I can give to any veteran that's transitioning out, right? To game the game, right? ah Networking.
00:46:32
Brian Gomez
meet more people, you have no idea who you're gonna meet that's gonna get you into that position. Case in point, one of my junior guys, right? Like, I'm very glad that like, I didn't yell at him, right? Because if I was an ass, I'm sure he would have never helped me. um I say this a lot again, when I talk to senior staff NCOs right when I'm like hey just you know like as you're retiring things like that like definitely kind of change your mindset because you have no idea the reserve world doesn't really have much of this problem I would say more of the active duty side right hopefully I don't piss off my active duty bubbles there but
00:47:12
Brian Gomez
there's There's a lot of smart E1s, E2s, E3s, right? In the reserve world, it's not uncommon to have you know a sergeant be at a company and his direct report is you know his captain or something, right? Not uncommon to see that. um Obviously we know how to turn it on when we're back in uniform where the captain or the major, the lieutenant colonel is the boss, but it's not uncommon to have that you know rule reversal. um So it's just one of those things where I tell them like, you need to be mindful of of who you kind of treat terribly because that E3, E4, E5, E6, E7 could transition out, get a position at Boeing, and that could be you're making or breaking, you know, because
00:47:59
Brian Gomez
maybe maybe you apply there, maybe you interview, maybe they say, hey, you know, Jonathan, um this guy just interviewed, you know, he was in the Marines too, or he was in the Army too, do you know him? And that guy can look and be like, oh yeah, dude, he's an asshole. Like he's not, he's he doesn't play well with others, dude, like. He's not a culture fit here. That could be like that could be that could break it right then and there, right? um Because at least for us, we don't hire, you know, smart jerks like you can be amazing at your job. But like, if you don't know how to communicate with other folks, if you're like, you know, arrogant or like condescending like
00:48:35
Brian Gomez
you know the conversation's not gonna go well and like me I'm not gonna move you forward because like you're gonna be a representation representation of me just like I'm a representation of you and like that's not gonna go well so little things to kind of think about you know Marines from all all levels all ranks right like Just always remember, like you know have that human element. right you know Again, I don't i don't um don't scream anymore as a gunny. like I don't have to scream. right I can be firm. But it's always like, hey, man, walk me through your thinking. What were you thinking? right like Help me help you. And then just kind of listening. and Be like, OK, cool, man. All right, so you were trying to do something good. Didn't work out. Let me tell you what you should do differently. And then you kind of you know go go with the knowledge of how you want to be. right How do you want to interpret?
00:49:23
Brian Gomez
um But that's that's a big one. I would say that's those are my big pieces of advice and And always remember I think we all joke about this right like I Still hear many Marines to this day of like oh no my buddy. He's got a job for me It's gonna pay you know you know astronomical amounts of money. um I'm good. I'm good. I don't need to go to this I don't need to go learn this stuff and I hate hearing that, it's like, no bro, like go learn, build your your LinkedIn, build your resume, network, connect, right? Like go ask questions at these career events because at the end of the day, your your friend could be blowing smoke up your ass or you know let's say, yeah, yeah, you know my CEO really doesn't wanna hire you. um you Are you able to start here? No, I'm gonna start 180 days. Okay, cool, we'll we'll wait for you, we'll wait for you.
00:50:15
Brian Gomez
Bro, he's not the decider into getting you hired, right? He can grab your resume and speak, you know, your amazing awesomeness to the CEO. But at the end of the day, that person's gonna be like, ah, they didn't do really well in the interview. I'm gonna go with this other person. And now you're just shit out of luck, right? like Like, just have that realization. that that could happen. um God, there's a lot of, oh man, before we go, the last one that I definitely say to every senior officer and and and and senior enlisted is, titles are interesting.
00:50:55
Brian Gomez
Just because you're a full bird here does not necessarily mean you're gonna be a director or VP at another company, right? um Does it happen? Yeah, right, it can, absolutely. Depending on how you interview, how you move, what you know, right?
Comparing Military and Tech Company Cultures
00:51:14
Brian Gomez
um You know, if you go into the, you know, the DOD side of things, right, there's the good old boy club, I can see more of that. But going into, I would say, more of like the big tech, it's not gonna work. And I do have some data points there that I that i won't, you know ah you know, we can talk on another time. but
00:51:33
Brian Gomez
The reason why is because, again, most tech like startups, you know and even like Uber and Lyft, they're not really a startup anymore, but they still operate you know in that that capacity, um you know small and mighty, right? like They're a big force. Great military affairs team there, by the way, you know super awesome. um
00:51:54
Brian Gomez
Pace. and and and scope and size, right? The military works slowly, right? And as a higher leader, you have a lot of direct reports that are managing different parts of of any business or project or or whatever you have you know that they're in charge of in the military, right? So they're kind of far removed. For us in tech, you know whether you're a director or a VP, you're in the in the in the foxhole with your troops. I've seen it many times where we're doing career events and our VP's out there interviewing.
00:52:33
Brian Gomez
and being, you know, like being on the floor and talking to candidates, you know, potential candidates. Or, you know, we had we had a hiring blitz where we were working on Saturdays and we were interviewing our Saturdays. Our directors and VPs were there, man. Like they were interviewing on those Saturdays. Like, when would you really see, you know, like a senior, you know, I'm not gonna see a star major or a colonel general on a Saturday, right? It's gonna be the the the middle management and the ground pounders doing stuff there. No, like that doesn't fly here. We we want you down in the in the in the trenches, but also you need to know what's going on from ah point A to point B, B to C, C to D, and be able to communicate effectively on that. So that's something that I tell them like, hey, don't sell yourself short, but also please understand that a director at like, let's say Amazon, dude, that's like a 200,000 person company, if not more, right? Like that is a big company. You're probably not gonna be VP there.
00:53:31
Brian Gomez
Right. you You can probably maybe come in as a director or depending right what your rank is right like with your knowledge or you can come in at like a manager right you know kill it there and promote promote very quickly because of your previous experience. So I will say I've had a lot of like senior leaders in that in that space. when they transition out, when I shadowed with them and gave them my rip that bandaid off of like, hey, I'm gonna call you by your first name. I don't care if you're a one star, two star, I don't give a shit. Cause the end of the day, I need you to understand that you're transitioning out. You are gonna be talking to people that don't really know what a one star does. They're like, oh, that's really cool. Anyways, like for me, it's like, dude, that's amazing. Like I understand how difficult it is to get there.
00:54:14
Brian Gomez
But I don't really care, man, right? At this point, I'm talking to you as Brian to John or or Max or Kelly or whoever, because I want you to understand like, you got to get yourself ready for this, because this is how everyone else is going to speak to you. And you're going to have to effectively explain to them what you've done and then have a little bit of that that humbleness right to understand that you may need to come in as a site manager. right But you ah you will you will promote real quick. I have so many examples ah from folks that I've connected with inside of of Meta and even folks that I've brought in over um you know that transitioned out um that have moved up to ladder very quickly. Why? Bro, because we know how to operate with less. with less right And some of our counterparts that, you know
00:55:02
Brian Gomez
Yes, they're subject matter experts in that in that space. you know We're going to soak in that knowledge because we always want to work with smarter folks than us, but we're also going to know how to handle adversity. We also know how to handle ah you know those roadblocks and how to work with with less stuff. So we're like, oh yeah, that's no problem. Let's let's figure this out. You'll see that stuff. but um I know like we're thinking like one or two little things of like out of game to game, what kind of advice? um But I would say those those I really try to like push push into folks um just so they they they understand, right? People will blow smoke up our asses all the time and I don't want that. I
Performance Evaluations in Tech
00:55:40
Brian Gomez
wanna give the real stuff out there so you know how to get in and how to how to really understand like,
00:55:49
Brian Gomez
what but value you bring into and and then just come in where you're not feeling underwater, right? Let's say you do give do get into ah you know like a VP level, right? There is a lot that comes with it. And if you're feeling like you're underwater and you can't make it, you're gonna be put on a performance improvement plan. And then you're gonna, if you can't make that, you're gonna be exited out of out of out of the company. right Whether you come, on the other hand, you come in, maybe ah maybe a director, you know whatever, lower, but you kill it because you're at you know you know exactly what, you have enough responsibility where you know how to do things, but you also know how to do the next level and they see that and you promote into that position very quickly.
00:56:33
Brian Gomez
So things that things to kind of think about, right? Anyways, I'll pause there. Again, tangents, man.
00:56:39
Michael Rodriguez
Now that's a, that's a lot of great info. Um, and you mentioned PIP performance improvement plan. I know that has a stereotype. Maybe it's for a reason of if you get put on kind of those improvement plans, you are pretty much going to get fired. Um, is what most people um think about that.
00:56:59
Brian Gomez
Yeah, you won't. Most people won't do that. But you won't.
00:57:04
Michael Rodriguez
But can you kind of go into specifically? Yes. Pip, but also, um, evaluation, like how are you evaluated?
00:57:11
Brian Gomez
Oh, yeah.
00:57:13
Michael Rodriguez
When, what, like, what are, you know, we get fit reps, like you mentioned in the military, but what is, it is it quarterly?
00:57:17
Brian Gomez
Yeah.
00:57:19
Michael Rodriguez
Is it annually? And how does it eval work?
00:57:20
Brian Gomez
yeah Yeah, absolutely, man. Man, great, great questions. All right, so PIP, Performance Improvement Plan, right? So let's say you're not meeting the expectations of of your core responsibilities, right? Of your ah ah pretty much your job description, of your level, right? Because each level has you know scope expectations of what what milestones you have to hit or what where what level of expertise you have to have in your in your job, right? Let's say you're not meeting expectations and it could be because like a variety of factors, right? Like maybe like a life event happened, maybe there's something going on personally, maybe maybe it's like ah you're just not, you're motivated self or maybe you're like, damn, this is not the right, you know, like team that I wanna be on or like, you know, shit, how do I navigate this? Like there's so many different things that come in and when a PIP happens, it's like, hey,
00:58:14
Brian Gomez
you know like We understand that you're you're not performing to your best self, right? like let's let's get you on Let's get you on a program like ah a process, a program, ah a plan to get you back to that level um you know for the next six months, right? Our pips are pretty long, man. I want to say like a couple months, right? Maybe ah maybe I want to say like six months before you get evaluated on on staying in or not, right? um I've known a few folks that got on a pit and came back and like they're killing and they're still here and they were never like, oh, right. It's just, you just never know, right? At the end of the day, at the end of the day, you know, we're still a business, right? We still got things going on. We, you know, we we have expectations. we We're counting on you to like,
00:58:56
Brian Gomez
Do the work, right? Like, you know, we're all as weak as our weakest link, right? So you need to grab that person like, hey, how do I help you? Help me help you. Let's get there. um So it's not a bad thing. Sometimes you just need to get you need to reset, right? Sometimes some people don't ask for feedback or they don't ask, oh, hey, what can I do better? ah Managers should be providing feedback, like like the Marine Corps, like we should, not everybody does, it but like, you know, our commander should sit us down from, you know, the initial counseling to understand, what our role and expectations are as well as like a quarterly counseling as well as a halfway midway point right like to see if you're if you're progressing like and if you're doing the right thing how am I going to know if I'm if I'm not doing the right thing if I don't know if like I'm not you know meeting what you're expecting like tell me right so those are things that kind of happen but
00:59:45
Brian Gomez
it's not a bad thing right um it can be scary it can be that gut punch but just you know be vulnerable allow yourself to reset and come in and kill it you know and come in and like you know like shine right at the end of the day you know you need it you can push through if you The only way you'll fail is if you fail yourself. If you just say, fuck it, I'm i'm done. like you know I can't keep up. You'll fail yourself, man. I love meta because we we have a great culture, right? Where if you're feeling bad, you can talk to a candidate yumm a candidate. You can talk to one of your teammates. You can talk to your manager and say, hey, look.
01:00:19
Brian Gomez
I got this going on. It's gonna affect my work, it's affecting my work. I don't feel 100%. I've had those conversations too. Look, I'm very open about it. I had those conversations where I'm like, I'm not giving 100% in my work in this area, and it's affecting my job performance, and it's affecting me like mentally, man, because I wanna make sure my candidate experience is top-notch, but also that I'm doing everything that I'm supposed to be doing for my hiring leader. you know what I mean? Because like I'm here to support them, right? It's, again, at the end of the day, it's with them. What's in it for me, but for them, right? If I help them, like, I'm going to get a good eval and you know, like, I'm going to get, you know, a recognition, but I need to make sure I'm helping them because I, if I can deliver
01:01:05
Brian Gomez
they're gonna remember me and they're gonna request me. And then I'm gonna have that build build that connection. And in time, you build such a solid relationship where it's like, oh, hey, you know Steve, you know like and do you wanna do an intake with what you're looking for? Nope, you got it, I trust you. dope and you just run with it. And like, that has some heavy weight with like your future of of what you want to do in your career and becoming like a knowledge expert, right? So there, it's not a bad thing. ah You just have to be vulnerable and just use it, own it. And it could be like a little, it could be a little good jumpstart of like, shit, like I needed, I needed that, right? But anyways, e-bals, great one.
01:01:46
Brian Gomez
prior to, I wanna say prior to like COVID timeframe, maybe before, I can't remember. We used to be, we said like ah ah twice a year, two evals twice a year, right? Every half is called PSC. Oh my God, what's that? What does it stand for? I don't know, performance something something, right? um Pretty much it's a performance eval, like where are you at? um And it's similar to a fit rep but in reality, right? Like you provide some data points of what you've been hitting, right? Now we have it yearly. We have a midway point, right? Where we kind of like, you know, you you do the same functions, but
01:02:27
Brian Gomez
it It has some weight for the future, but it kind of helps you kind of like, okay, I'm doing well here. I'm not meeting the mark here. Let me focus. Let me keep this going. Well, let me focus for the next six months of ah building that weakness and and meeting the mark. So during my end of the year PSE or like my my yearly performance, um my performance chat in a sense, right? um that I'm hitting hitting the wickets, right? Because we're a performance-based company. So the better you perform, the better your bonuses, right? The better your're um your stock refreshers, the better your raises. And the more you have ammunition to get promoted, right? So it's a big it's it's better to be like, it's good to be like, hey, let me let me do the best work that I can.
01:03:21
Brian Gomez
Right? um But how it's kind of like dialed in, think of a fit rep, right? You put in your accomplishments, you know, you put your data points in of like, I've done this, this and this, but you put in your accomplishments, right? Each level has different scopes, right? Different areas that you, you know, you want to hit and strive, like, how do you build community? How are you able to influence, like, you know, what things did you do to really to get over those, those, those roadblocks, those bumps, right? um And then you also do, you also ask for advice or not advice, peer evals, right? Evals from folks that you partnered with um and just put in there like, hey, I love to get get some insight of our our partnership. You know, what did you think? I did great. You know, I love, you know, to get some advice or I love to get some, um um some feedback over, you know, what I did well with collaboration or communication or whatever. And where can I improve?
01:04:20
Brian Gomez
right? And you'll get some peer evals. What I try to do is have like a peer that I worked with, right? ah Maybe somebody I'm mentoring, right? And then obviously my my stakeholders, right? the The folks that are above me, you know, try to get that. So I have, you know, all three giving me a solid advice that I should know feedback that I should know where I can, I can be better, right? And the areas where I'm like, I'm, you know, slam dunking, where I'm like killing it, you know, touchdown after touchdown after touchdown. and highlighting it to to my leadership, right? They can't see everything that we're doing. They they have their own core work, right? They have a lot of other things that they're handling, but you want to sell yourself, right? So that's how they're kind of like dialed in. Again, every other company has a different method, but for us, that's that's how it is.
Veteran Programs and Job Transition Tips
01:05:12
Michael Rodriguez
Awesome. Yeah, that's good. It's good info there and kind of staying on meta still here. Are there any veteran specific programs at meta?
01:05:24
Brian Gomez
yeah Yeah, that's all the question. So we don't have a military affairs team. I wish we did. I hope one day we do. um But we do have veteran specific programs, right? um And it it goes with like military spouses and things like that. Um, um, but that's veteran specific, right? So in order to qualify for those programs, you do have, uh, have to have that, like that previous military background. Um, and we have a careers website that is, you know, military specific. So you can go in there for your m MOS, see what kind of jobs pop up. I always say like, um,
01:06:03
Brian Gomez
you know, it's not perfect, right? So definitely, you know, have a, you know, open, open mind, right? Take it with a grain of salt, see what, what really, what really makes sense for your career. But the other thing that I say is like, be be be open, but also think about your previous work experience, right? Peel that onion layer back of yourself, right? Because we have all done um ah done done different billets that are outside of our our job, our MOS, right? Like you wanna provide that experience as well, right? um I always kind of go back to like,
01:06:43
Brian Gomez
a barracks manager, right? It's not sexy, right? Like you're just kind of going and doing that stuff. But if you really peel the onion layer back on that work, like you've done a lot. There's a lot of organization there, right? There's a lot of like time time management. There's a lot of, um there's a lot of communication with civilians and military to say, Hey, this AC is not working. All right, let me go. What is the form? What's the process? I you know i gotta to go build that. Is there a process? Oh man, there's no process. Let me build a binder for the next person ah to build out the steps of what they need to do. like If you talk about that, like bro, you're taking initiative. You built out a process to get things done, to like you know us ah smooth out, ah smooth line the the the the area. of like how do How can they request to get the AC working? What is that timeline looking like?
01:07:31
Brian Gomez
And you can you can you can mention it like, hey, look, before it was just kind of all over the place. But once I sat there and created a binder, it could be just a binder, I was able to build out um an area of opportunity, right? um to to shorten the time and to provide ah an actual process for the Marines to request to get their AC fixed, right? And with that, I was able to you know get it done from a two week turnaround to a couple of days because now we know the actual process, the actual paperwork that's needed. So we're not going there and back, there and back, there and back, which has happened before. And again, I've done before where I'm like, shit, man, like,
01:08:14
Brian Gomez
Let me like sit down, like now that I know, you know, now that I had to go through that, you know, hassle, let me write this stuff down so we can save time on myself. um So then I can hit the gym up quickly, right? Or I can go to chow real quickly versus like this taking time um out of my day. but Yeah, there's there's a lot of things out. you People just gotta to be curious, go in there and just like, and and find it. There's a lot of companies out here that have military specific programs and teams that, ah A,
01:08:49
Brian Gomez
I never knew about until I started asking the right questions, until I started going into virtual career events, right? Where I'm like, oh, I didn't know that that Wells Fargo had that, or I didn't know Chevron was partnering with us on that stuff. Let me introduce myself to that point of contact. Let me pick their brain, right? Hey, I'm
Recruiting Advice for Veterans
01:09:09
Brian Gomez
networking, right? Building my relationship with that person. But also I'm grabbing that information, putting it on the list, and then sharing that information out to every veteran possible so they have an opportunity to to do something outside outside of the military when they transition.
01:09:28
Michael Rodriguez
Gotcha. And I don't really talk ah to kind of not be meta specific in this case, but earlier talked about the program used to kind of get into this role. um Now for a veteran that's still in thinking about getting out, thinking about getting into recruiting, is there a specific type of recruiting they should get into you think from what you've seen for the first role? So many different kinds, startups, big tech, all this stuff. Is there like a specific kind of thing they should maybe look at to start off with?
01:10:01
Brian Gomez
Solid, solid, okay. um
01:10:06
Brian Gomez
How do I and bring this down? All right, so it is ah it is a little harder if if you're, well, I don't want to keep it in like Marine Corps recruiting, but recruiting in the military can have two different pipelines, right? You have like your your street recruiter, right? Going to high schools and and and those things. And then you have your like OSOs, right? You're looking for the officer selection officers, right? Like having those folks work in there. The OSO side is going to have more relatability to corporate than the regular street recruiter, but
01:10:45
Brian Gomez
the the regular, like ah I don't wanna say regular street recruiter, but you know the the majority of of the recruiting district right for for Marine Corps, there's gonna be a lot more like, um And I would say a lot more selling, but a lot more hustle, right? Because you have to grind, right? you like Marine Corps recruiting ah in and as a whole is cutthroat at times, right? um But you're going to have a lot more hustle. So you're going to gain that experience of, hey, I got to grind. I got to be scrappy. I got to go out there and get the business done, right?
01:11:17
Brian Gomez
Not saying the OSOs are not doing that as well, but I feel like you're gonna get more in here. But on the officer selection officer side, right? If you go to like college and stuff, you have to convince college, college grads, right? You have to convince professionals. Like, hey, Mr. Dentist, we have this opportunity, you know, we would love to pull you in. Why do I, I have my own practice. Like, I'm making a lot of money. Like, why would I go into the army, right? Why do I go to the Navy? Well, let me tell you why. you know, like, we can do this, this and this, and you'll get this benefits. And also, I saw that you're, that you're very dedicated in in in in helping out, you know, um these developing countries with like, you know, children with cleft lips, like I saw, you know, that ah you do that on on your on your webpage, or, you know, you've talked about like, that's, that's something that excites you.
01:12:08
Brian Gomez
Well, we have you know opportunities to go do that. And you can do that and continue to build that that um that experience while you're in the military. right And so you got to be kind of creative right to pull those folks in. So that's why I say it's a little bit more like on the corporate, like you know bigger company size. like you know You have in-house, I would say, because now you're that's a passive candidate. And you're convincing that passive candidate A, to leave their practice or leave where they work, to come into the military, to have to deal with military things, right? But also to like, hey, you're going to get this experience, right? And you're going to be a veteran. And now like, you can, you can, you know, use it to your advantage. Now you're, you can own your own business. Now it's veteran owned, but you know, like you want to give them like some of the benefits. You don't want to always talk about like, you know, compensation, right? I always try to stay away from compensation.
01:12:59
Brian Gomez
um But, you know, hey, we can forgive loans, right? Like we see, you know, like you went to school for that. Do you want to keep going to school? Because like we can pay you to continue to go to school and get something like and a different degree or like add on to your your your professional, you know, certificates or whatever, right? um That area can can really work. So things that to kind of think about. So that kind of leads into where can I use that experience, right? If you can find an entry-level program, like I did, like Source of Development Program, like go for it, right? Try to get into that program. i think's I think it's an amazing program. I worked on it when I went to Pathway Programs. The reason why I moved over to that team, because I wanted to continue to promote that because I came through it, changed my life, and I want to do that for the rest of of folks, but also like when I extended an offer to to those individuals, like,
01:13:57
Brian Gomez
The happiness in that joy, dude, like that just reminds me why I fucking love my job right and why I love like getting involved in these types of things and and and just paying it forward. Inspiring folks to be like, bro, you can you can do this. Don't ever doubt yourself. like Get in here. um that would that would that's a great opportunity to go through, right? Smaller companies as well, right? Reaching out to military a ti affairs teams or connecting with other military folks on LinkedIn that may be at a company that you wanna be in, right? Build that relationship. Never say, hey, I just exited the the military, I need a job, here's my resume, don't do that. Like you won't get, no one will like respond or they'll be like, hey bro, like,
01:14:44
Brian Gomez
You can apply the careers website right? Here's the thing, right? You want to go in and say, Hey, I love your career trajectory. um I'm, you know, leaving the military in about 12 months, 18 months, whatever, you know, I would love to just like, you know, if I can get you like buy you a coffee or i have a virtual chat, just to pick your brain on how you did it, man, any, did any advice, you know, for, for transitioning, I know you transition, you can relate on that part. So you're going to get a little bit of buy-in. And when you, when you have that, authentic, genuine approach where you're not asking for something, but you're like, hey, I would love to get a little bit of mentorship. Most folks are going to respond and be like, yeah, absolutely. Let's take some time. Hey, you know what? You know, you you actually have some really good knowledge. Let me put in a referral for you, right? Referrals are also so a big one to get in. Don't ever be afraid
Agency Recruiting: Skills and Ethical Challenges
01:15:34
Brian Gomez
to ask for a referral, but if you're going to, again,
01:15:37
Brian Gomez
tailor that message, you know, where you're just not like using and abusing them. We all know that, you know, maybe you're reaching out for a referral. It doesn't matter. I don't care. Like, I don't care, man. Let me help you to get in there. um That's also a great way. And then agency recruiting. I will give this one that this is, it's a theater, it's a theater MOS. Like I've recruited out of agency a lot when I was on recruiting for recruiting, right? If you can survive three years at like an agency company, right? um
01:16:11
Brian Gomez
you will survive you will survive anywhere you go, right? It is cutthroat, right? I think if you can survive Marine Corps recruiting, yeah know like like agency will probably be like, yeah, there's a walk in the park, right? If you can survive that type of environment, you like you're go a agency really produces out some really strong sorcerers, right? Because you have to be very crafty. um year you're you're younna mean like You're not having all these sexy tools you know to your advantage. right You don't have this sexy name and this brand you know to like generate interest. You got to be out there and you got to be creative and you got to think outside the box and you got to be charismatic to like talk to that person. in It's high tempo. so you You may be working on 20 different roles that are all different and like trying to get in there. right
01:17:00
Brian Gomez
The only only reservation, the only downside that you have to think about is sometimes you'll have some bad actors in there. And what do I say is you'll have some sneaky folks, right? You don't want to be that person, right? Like, I don't have that personal experience, but this is all experience that I've chatted with, with not only with my candidates once they came over, but also my colleagues that came from agency. It's like, you gotta to be a good person, man. And like sometimes there's there's gonna be, you know, like you're gonna be asked to do questionable things. You gotta to stand up and be like, no, I'm not gonna do that. Or, you know, someone's gonna try to be, someone's gonna try to stab you in the back. You know, like, A, you know be be you know, don't let them, right? Like try to be, be creative on like how you do that. But if they do, like,
01:17:45
Brian Gomez
Just take it as a learning lesson and and don't be an ass and don't do it to somebody else because whether you see it or not, that type of characteristic or trait is gonna kinda stick with you and gonna follow to the next ah to the next job. right And my job as a sorcerer then was to dive into that. To dive into like how you communicate and what you're saying. and I have a really good like approach where I i can just you know keep the room super chill and be able to like open up. and like be able to like allow you to open up and so if i'm if i if i smell like oh man like you're i'm smelling like the symptoms right like i'm i'm catching a whiff of you don't play well with others right like i'm not gonna feel confident moving you forward because again you're you gotta be a cross-functional collaborator right you gotta talk to a lot of folks and like
01:18:37
Brian Gomez
These people come from all walks of life, you know, you got to be careful of of how you communicate, you know, and like, we're all a team here, you know, like, we're all helping each other to to to so build each other up. I'm not gonna like, I don't want my colleague to fail, right? Because at the end of the day, I want them to keep going. But agency is a really weird, weird world. I wouldn't say weird world, but It's a different world of how we operate, but it definitely produces some amazing sorcerers and closers. And yeah, man, we we pull we pull from there, you know, a lot of times. So it could be ah a way to get into, you know, Uber and Lyft, because we all, the tech companies know that shit. That person has been there for three, four years. they there they they're They're a killer. they can They can get through. But if they've, you know, if you can't last a year or, you know what I mean? like i can know
01:19:31
Brian Gomez
Like, you know, I'll see the trend, then I'll know like, oof, they can't handle that pace or they ah can't handle that cutthroat. Like if you can handle that pace and that that movement and that switching gears, you'll you'll kill it here, you know? Yeah.
01:19:48
Michael Rodriguez
Gotcha. And I guess last real question here. So for, you know, everyone's talking about AI these days, it's, we don't know what's gonna happen in the future and all this, but do you use AI at all at work?
01:19:56
Brian Gomez
Yeah.
01:19:59
Michael Rodriguez
And if so, how? um But broader question, how do you think it'll impact, I guess, recruiting as a whole, if you've thought about it?
01:20:07
Brian Gomez
Yeah, solid question. um Yeah, we have like a meta AI, right? We built something now that we're we're pushing out. Great, great, great. I want to say it's like tied into like Facebook and Instagram now where you can kind of put in there and just like spits out the stuff that you're actually looking for or what, you know, what you're trying to help with, but I use it, right? I use it to so help me when I'm stuck, right? Like, let's say I want to be, let's say I'm, um um re every year I revamp my pre-screen questions, you know, and And... Maybe I wanna kinda change it up, but I'm not getting the idea. So I'll put it in there. Hey, like what's a good way to reword this? Or, you know, i give me an example or a quite a good question of blah, blah, blah, right? And just like, oh man, that's a really good one. I didn't think about that, right? So you wanna use it to your advantage and and and help you be better, right? So now I'm like, oh, great. I learned that real quick. That makes sense. Let me let me do my best work. You know, like now I understand and I can push this, right?
01:21:08
Brian Gomez
um And if you're ever stuck on like working on a new project or something like oh man I don't really know what that meant you can use you can use it to kind of say hey explain to me ah in layman's terms or break it down Barney style of how to do this like I have no shame by asking you know certain things to like break it down because like I'm never gonna act like I'm the smartest person there right like I mean I want that knowledge if I'm not understanding let me make it in in a way that I can understand it then once I pick it up I'm like Oh, yeah, that makes sense, total sense. Now I understand, now I can effectively do my job and effectively um influence or advocate or be able to talk with some with some confidence there, right? Confidence is is key of know what you're talking about, right? You gotta do that.
01:21:53
Brian Gomez
um So that's a big one. But will AI replace you know recruiting or jobs or whatever? No. right there's all There's always a need for the human element. Will it replace some mundane tasks? Yeah, it's gonna make it smoother, quicker, faster. right But the human element, the human touch, the human interaction, absolutely, absolutely not. right That's something that AI will never be able to, well, I won't say never, right but that's something that you know if it happens it's gonna happen a long time from now but there's something about a genuine ah authentic human being there's something about when you're talking to somebody on the phone and you just smile over the phone
01:22:39
Brian Gomez
It's infectious. You can feel it, right? You can feel somebody's body language, right? You can feel somebody's a voice and like you hear like the passion or the disgust or or whatever. Like you can feel somebody, you know, kind of being more open or reserved. Like that little human element piece is so important when it comes to to pretty much any job of being successful or not as a leader you know i would want my leader to be able to come down to like not my level but like meet me eye to eye right and be able to understand what i'm talking about where our pain points are and be able to say you know what yeah you're right let's let's dive into that right because like that human elements can be like
01:23:25
Brian Gomez
yeah wait a second let's let's design this because like we're having a lot of burnout we're you know like we're losing a lot of folks right like let's hire let's do this let's do that let's kind of shift gears um versus like a program is gonna be like no we need to meet this end goal so that's what they're gonna do right so that human element's always gonna be big and and people are always gonna want that right i've had some really great leaders dude i i what last thing right but like I had, when we were working on this hiring growth sprint a long time ago, and we were you know working on Saturdays and stuff, which I enjoyed because I was i a you brand new, I wanted to soak in knowledge, and I loved it.
01:24:07
Brian Gomez
Dude, there was a point where we all come came in on like a Monday, Tuesday, and our our ah manager was like, hey guys, you know come on come come around. Hey y'all, take the rest of the week off, dude. If you guys want to come in, great. like But for sure, Thursday, Friday, like don't even come in. Don't put BTL. like Don't worry about it. like I got you guys like, you know, like I want to reward y'all for like grinding it, right? So don't even worry about it go and do things You know, I already don't worry about and we're like, oh are we allowed do we get approval? Like you don't worry about it, right? The man is like I got you guys don't worry go And we've I've came I've came across that a lot man and like that piece for me is Again, that's the human element of understanding. Hey, we've been grinding for a while. We're tired, right? Like we're only getting like Sunday to kind of be free or like Saturday afternoon to kind of like go out and be with our significant other significant others or families and stuff and like someone coming in saying I got you guys go leave done. Like, you know, we'll see you guys next time I come back, you know next Monday or whatever. I remember that dude.
01:25:11
Brian Gomez
And I loved it. like That was another thing that I'm like, oh, dude, I'm here all day. in the And in the Marine Corps, you kind of see it sometimes, right? you know A good leader is going to be like, well, shit, it's 12 o'clock. There's nothing going on. Everything's done. Go home, right? Because I know you know maybe this week or next week, we're going to have to work till 18, 19, 20, 100, right? like You want a reward, but also you know say, you've got to pay the back end, right? um Yeah, man, AI can never, for me in my opinion, I don't think it could ever replace that that human touch, you know, like that warmth, you know, that that were we're able to provide as people, you know? Yeah.
01:25:58
fall_in
Totally, man. Yo, did you see that video of Zuck wakeboarding over July 4th?
01:26:05
fall_in
I'm curious if you've ever if you've ever met him.
01:26:05
Brian Gomez
yeah
01:26:07
Brian Gomez
He's pretty buff.
01:26:09
fall_in
He's super active.
01:26:10
Brian Gomez
a
01:26:10
fall_in
like there was He was like supposed to have a fight with Elon, but did you ever get close to him or hear any interesting stories about him you can share?
01:26:17
Brian Gomez
Yeah, yeah. um Yeah, dude, he's he's he's a man of the people. I will say that. That's something that I also loved. When I was at Menlo Park, I'd regularly see him walking around with with the engineers, like chatting with with ah you know his direct reports and stuff. and like Dude, I remember something that that threw me away once, but I was fresh out of the Marine Corps. my first year, right? I was at one of the buildings, we were having like, it was like the end of the day, we're having happy hour. And I saw him chatting, you know, with, but you know, another senior leader. And dude, people were like walking through their conversation. And it blew me away, right? Because like, bro, we would never do that in the military. If a Colonel is talking to a Sergeant Major, you're not gonna go in between them. You're gonna go around, right?
01:27:08
Brian Gomez
Nope, there's people moving in, ended up you know, engineers and, and, uh, product designers and, and, you know, culinary and whatever, how to get through and they're doing stuff.
01:27:18
fall_in
It's crazy.
01:27:19
Brian Gomez
Dude, not, they didn't bad night. They're just like talking to it. Oh yeah. Cool. Whatever. Oh yeah. Yeah, for sure. Okay. Cool. Cool. And then they go. I loved him because I didn't bother him. We got things to do. I didn't bother him. I would hear stories that when he would go to lunch, he would wait in line. People would talk to him. He would get kind of nervous, but he would just talk to me, wait in line, grab his lunch, go eat. It was really cool to see that, right? To see someone that, that man, like you're a CEO of this like giant company that just continues to grow to like come down and just chat with everybody, right? And every back then, it was like every Friday, he would have, i not happy hour, we would have happy hour, but he would have Q and A.
01:28:03
Brian Gomez
And something I really loved was, you know, he would be up there, he would talk about stuff, you know, we'd all laugh, goof off, tell some stories, like, you know, to talk, you know, we'd have other folks, um you know, come up there and talk, but we would poll, right, you know, a couple questions, but he would always have open mic. right, which I thought was awesome. ra I'm like, oh my god, open mic, like, you can ask anything that's scary, you know, and people will come and ask them really tough questions. He'd be like, oh okay, yeah. And he would answer the question, you know, and they'd be like, you know what?
01:28:34
Brian Gomez
let me Let me get, you know, XYZ who's like the COO, right, or or the CTO, you come in here and and they'll be able to explain exactly, you know, in detail of exactly, you know, where we're where we're moving towards, where we're trending towards. So something that I really love that he did, I got nothing but ah great things to to say, you know, and like, It's really cool to to be, you know, too cool. It's cool. I'm not big like starstruck person, but it's really cool for me. It wasn't really, you know, I didn't care like to be like, Oh man, he's right there. You know, be starstruck. I love that. Like I was seeing, you know, two amazing individuals and people just cutting their, their conversation and they just didn't care. They're like, whatever man, like,
01:29:15
Brian Gomez
Our time is not more important than your time, right? Our conversation is not um more more important than y'all's conversation. Like, Hey, we're doing our thing. You guys are doing your things. Like keep on, keep on keeping on, which is super cool. Very, very, very, very awesome. It gives you, it's it's a glimpse of what that, what the culture is at that meta, right? Like, you know, how open we were allowed to be and, and, you know, our communication style and like, ah you know, how respectful we are and like, you know like how um how some of those things like, hey, that this stuff doesn't matter. like yeah Let's come in here, be the best version of ourselves. And if you don't feel like the best version of yourself, that's okay too. You are encouraged to like have that conversation with your manager. You're encouraged to, like and this has come from top, all the way top, you know from him all the way down. right is like you know like always Always think about yourself. Always think about your your mental health, your physical health, like your wellbeing. like
01:30:12
Brian Gomez
Take the time to go be with your families. You know what I mean? Like, if you got to go and go enjoy your kid's softball game, go. It's not a big deal. The work will be there tomorrow. Obviously, do what you need to do, but leave. Go and enjoy those times. And I think that, for me, is something that I love about the company. I don't think I'll ever leave. They got to put me out, I mean. um Because of because of that, again, the human element, right?
01:30:43
Brian Gomez
It's like, dude, at the end of the day, we're all people. And like, you know, be with your families like, from like, they promote that stuff. Right. So I love it, man. I have a great thing to say.
01:30:54
fall_in
Yeah.
01:30:55
Brian Gomez
Yeah.
01:30:56
fall_in
Sounds like a dope ass company to work for, man. Dude, believe it or not, we're we're past an hour and a half. I am so honored that we have you know a Marine from from Meta.
01:31:03
Brian Gomez
well
01:31:07
fall_in
Meta is doing such great things. I'm a big fan of the Quest products. Can't wait for the next one whenever it comes out, hearing rumors, but the stuff that you all are doing with Llama and like
01:31:19
Brian Gomez
Yeah, get a llama.
01:31:20
fall_in
you know freaking Ray-Ban sunglasses. it's It's really rad, man. But um yeah, we'll we'll post your LinkedIn and and contact info on our on our show description, but can't thank you enough for for joining us, man.
01:31:28
Brian Gomez
Yeah, please.
01:31:32
Brian Gomez
No, man, thank you thank you again for for having me. like um I love what you guys are doing. you know I know I told you guys offline, but like this this stuff for me is like, A, I'm motivated to do these things, but also I love other vets involved in these things and being successful on the outside. and like Not hoarding that info, but like you know trying to like help ah help the rest of us. like Go find our our next chapter. right um I know for myself, and I'm sure for you guys, I don't want to speak on on your behalf, but I know like that next chapter is is so scary. you know like It's like, oh my God, what am I going to do? right and and it's I'm a big believer of like
01:32:13
Brian Gomez
our our our veteran community is tight knit and like folks like you guys like doing these things and like you know going out there and and grabbing folks that can provide knowledge and like and you spreading it out right that's something that that that's very very um very important to me right but like very important to a lot of folks whether they see it or not like I guarantee you man there there's some some folks that are listening to this and they could be in the military or not like that are going to take a key point away from not only myself but your other guests and even from y'all even from y'all's past experiences so
01:32:47
Brian Gomez
Like, again, I feel super honored. ah Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I hope I did talk. I talked way too much. But, you know, I guess I'm just a storyteller. but I get super excited. So thank you. Thank you, guys, for.
01:33:02
fall_in
No, we've got to get you back on, man, and and dive deeper.
01:33:07
fall_in
But yeah, it's been and awesome.
01:33:07
Brian Gomez
left
01:33:09
Michael Rodriguez
Yeah, no, thanks again for coming on. The knowledge you spit there was ah definitely um formative to me. So I'm sure it'll help, you know, other people listening as well. And yeah, as usual, we'll link all the different resources we talked about in the description.
01:33:20
Brian Gomez
for sure.
01:33:25
Michael Rodriguez
Our social media will be in the description. If you want to contact us, feel free to reach out to us on LinkedIn or via social media. But besides that, that's it. Thanks again.
01:33:36
Brian Gomez
Awesome. Thanks, guys.
01:33:38
fall_in
All right, kill.